Best Friends and Love
by halteddreams
Summary: OotP Spoilers! Hermione likes Harry, Ron likes Hermione, and Harry is just oblivious to it all; typical teenage boy. Takes place in the middle of the trio's Sixth Year. Will be HHr eventually. Chapter Two up!
1. Chapter 1

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**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters of Harry Potter. Joanne Kathleen Rowling does, not _me_. Got it? Good.

**Author's Notes: **H/H bug hit me again and I couldn't resist, this ship is damn addictive I say.

**Spoilers:** All _**five**_ books; read at your own risk for spoilers and don't come crying to me saying I didn't warn yeh.

**Summary:** H/Hr. 6th Year at Hogwarts. Hints of a trio love triangle. Hermione likes Harry, Ron likes Hermione, and Harry is just oblivious to it all; typical teenage boy. =) 

* * *

At first, it was the looks, then the glares, and then the bickering. 

Harry was just doing his homework in front of the fire when Ron and Hermione came walking down the staircase, yelling at each other like banshees.

He let it slide once or twice this week, but eventually these heated arguments between his two best friends were grinding into his last nerves.

_Snap!_

'Dammit, this is the third quill I've snapped in half this week,' groaned Harry inwardly, watching his friends duel it out.

"For the love of Merlin!" he cried out, standing up and stepping between them. "Admit that you like each other and go find a corner and snog!"

The reaction to this was stimulus if not downright funny.

Both friends gaped at him like a fish without water, eventually Ron turned away, his face flushed and Hermione looked just as shocked, but quickly composed herself and looked at him like he was suddenly Fluffy, with three heads.

"Boys are so _stupid!_" she bellowed at last after her just giving him a blank stare, and stormed out of the common room, slamming the portrait door behind her loudly.

It was the understatement of the year apparently, because Harry felt like he was missing something.

He turned towards Ron, who was mumbling under his breath. "What the heck was that?"

"What don't you ask her yourself, oh Great One?" he asked mockingly, shooting a glare in his direction and walking back up the staircase.

'Why is it always me?' thought Harry, shaking his head. Now both of his two best friends were mad at each other--which was normal on any given day--and now at him.

Harry didn't mind Ron being mad at him as much as he minded Hermione being mad at him. Mostly because he was used to Ron being mad at him, in their Fourth Year, there had been some tension and jealousy on their friendship but eventually they got it back together, but at least at that time he had Hermione to lean on for support, to let out his frustrations on. Harry debated which one he could go try to reconcile with first; Ron or Hermione. Eventually, he chose Hermione because she was normally more level-headed and plus when Ron was mad, you wanted to keep your distance in fear of your life.

Finding her was easy enough, apparently she wanted to be found today because the first place he looked in she was there, sitting in one of the back tables of the library, books sprawled around her, which was perfectly normal.

"Hermione--" he began, standing beside her chair that she occupied.

She said nothing and kept her nose in her book.

"_Hermione_," he said a bit more loudly, moving to sit across from her. "You're being bloody ridiculous, we all are. I'm sorry, maybe I got the wrong impression of what the argument Ron and you were about."

She said nothing, and made no motion to indicate that she was even heard him.

Well, if she wasn't going to respond, he would just have to talk her ear off until she said something.

"You two have been arguing a lot lately," he trailed on, "And you know what most people say, if you argue with someone so much, it means you like them..."

"I do not like Ron," she said darkly, putting her book down to reveal her bloodshot brown eyes, which shocked Harry for a moment but he tried to keep his cool and not embrace her.

He shrugged. "I was under the impression you guys--err--"

She bit her lip from keep from smiling. "You're such a dolt, Harry. If only you were to pull your head out of your sorrows and actually look around, you would know what it was about."

He bit back the remark he wanted to say when she mentioned his 'sorrows' and just looked at her.

"OK, you're right," he said, sighing deeply, "for lack of better words, I've been...mopping around since this term started."

"Mopping around? More like behaving similar to a zombie, and I don't blame you, but blaming yourself and being in a pissed off mood all the time isn't going to change the past," she said softly.

He wanted to snap at her, to tell her she knew nothing of the pain he felt when Sirius had died and how much he hated himself for being so stupid to actually think he had been captured...but she wasn't saying those things to make him angry, she was saying those things because she cared and she wanted him to realize it too.

'Listen to her', he told himself firmly.

He trusted Hermione, since he met her on the train nearly six years ago. He trusted her opinions and her thoughts and trusted everything about her, she was the only one he was willing to back up and actually listen to, he didn't know why, it was simply a fact.

"OK, I'll try to be more cheerful," he promised.

"Don't try to pretend, if I learned one thing last year, you can't force people to be something they aren't. I just wish I knew what could make you happy," she remarked.

"You're not mad at me anymore?" he suddenly asked.

She shot him a sad smile. "Such a dolt, you know I could never stay mad at you."

"Mind telling me why your relationship with Ron has been a bit..harsh lately?" he asked.

"I'll let you figure it out," she replied, picking up the book she had been reading when he first found her and began reading it, signaling this was the end of their conversation.

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**Author's Notes: **I'm not claiming to write like Rowling, just trying to get out of my writer's block situation with another fic I've been working on. Should I continue? Well, I'm already working on Chapter 2, so until I get reviews...[_Hint Hint]_


	2. Chapter 2

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**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters of Harry Potter. Joanne Kathleen Rowling does, not _me_. Got it? Good.

**Chapter Summary: **A familar face pops in that Harry isn't too happy with and some Ron and Harry convo.

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As Harry took the dreaded walk back towards the Gryffindor common room to see what the heck was going on with Ron, he unfortunately saw Cho Chang further down the corridor along with her giggling Ravenclaw friends. 

The only thing that hadn't changed in the way that he thought of her was her beauty; Cho Chang would always be a beautiful girl, with her dark raven black hair and shining eyes. But since last year, the wanting to get to know this raven-haired beauty was the furthest thing in his mind.

He was fixing to turn a corner to avoid her noticing him but no…who was he to kid?

"Harry!" he heard her familiar voice call from behind him, but he didn't bother to turn around.

She caught up with him, placing her hand briefly on his arm, walking beside him. "Did you not hear me call you?"

"Sorry, I was distracted," he lied, turning to her, looking in disgust at the shining 'Head Girl' badge on her normal school robes.

"Oh," she said, furrowing her brow. "I know we left things on a bad note last year; but I realized that I was blind, I'm no longer friends with—"

"Good for you," he said curtly, wishing to cut this conversation to an end. "But I'm not sorry for the events of last year. Only time I want to see you is at our Quidditch matches."

With that, he left a dumbfounded Head Girl Cho Chang in his wake.

Serves her right.

If her friend hadn't opened her big mouth—

Things would've been a whole lot different.

* * *

Harry suddenly wished the twins were here. 

It was unbelievable how they always managed to show up at times and cheer him up when he was down, if they were here, they probably would've been cracking jokes about their baby brother and saying what a oaf he was and that he had no reason to worry and he would calm down eventually and realize what a idiot he was.

But wishing for things that weren't here wasn't a good thing.

Just like Hermione had said; blaming yourself and being in an sour mood all the time wasn't going to change what already happened. If only Hermione still had her Time Turner...just thinking about their Third Year just three ago made him upset. It was ironic wasn't it? To save the man who was his godfather just three years when he just recently died anyway? What was the point then if they were going to take him out of his life anyway?

Fate was a cruel.

'Don't dwell on the past,' Harry told himself firmly, giving the Fat Lady the password and walking into the common room and taking the path up the stairs and towards the Sixth Year dorms.

He walked in and saw Ron was laying on his bed, just simply staring up at the ceiling and not taking notice that he was currently present.

"Ron?" he asked unsurely, for the first time afraid of what the other boy might do.

"Harry," he said, sighing and sitting up, his red hair disheveled. "Sorry about earlier, I was just so upset..."

Harry sat down on his own bed, across from Ron's and nodded in understanding.

"It's alright; just shocked me. Everything good between us now?" he asked nervously, looking at the carpet.

"Yeah, it's all right between _us,_" he replied, the meaning 'us' that it wasn't all right between Hermione and him. "I dunno, that girl is so...confusing! One moment she leads you on, and the next, it's like...BOOM!"

"Boom eh?" chuckled Harry, laying back, supporting his head with his arms behind him.

"Yeah...I really don't get her, one moment I want to kiss her senseless and the next I..." he trailed off, apparently lost in his thoughts.

Harry grinned in spite himself. Ron had it bad.

Ron eyed him pensively. "Harry...do you like Hermione? It's OK if you do, and we haven't been talking lately, but...I just wanted to know..."

Harry looked at his friend incredulously. Sure Hermione was an attractive witch and brilliantly smart, but he only saw her in the same way he saw the boy in front of him, as a close friend.

"No," he said quickly, "I honestly don't, but why would I? I'm too busy saving the bloody world remember?"

Ron grinned, obviously relieved at his proclaim of not having any romantic interests towards Hermione.

Harry eyed Ron, wondering what this was about. "But why would you ask? Have I done something that would indicate that I like her more than a friend?"

"No," he said, shrugging it off. "I mean, we are two guys who are best friends to the same girl, isn't it inevitable that we might possibly fall for that same girl? That's why Mum was so upset about the article in our Fourth Year."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Rita is rubbish, pure rubbish."

"Yeah, I know, and I explained that all to Mum, and she understands now," he said, then adding quickly, "then I explained Hermione wasn't like that, she isn't vindictive or deceitful."

Harry said nothing, just listened to his friend. It was a subject that him and Ron had never discussed before, Hermione. But back then there wasn't a need to discuss it, it was just the three of them and always would be, but they weren't thirteen year olds anymore, they were sixteen and discovering the opposite sex more and more was part of that, even if that girl was one of your best friends. Hermione was gorgeous in Harry's opinion and just had a glow about her, a glow that most girls were jealous of he knew. She didn't try to fit into anyone's standards, she was just Hermione Granger; muggleborn, daughter to two dentist parents, top of her class, fellow Prefect of Gryffindor, and best friends to Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. How many girls could say that?

No one, because Hermione was different and that's why Harry loved her so much. Ron loved her too he knew, but it was more obvious he was starting to love her in another way.

"So...I mean...she hasn't completely blown me off," began Ron nervously, his voice squeaking slightly, "do you think if I asked her out to the next Hogsmeade trip, she might say yes?"

Harry opened his mouth to immediately say 'yes, of course she would'. But then he remembered the confession Hermione told him.

_I do not like Ron._

He immediately shut his mouth and pondered what he should tell his friend. Should he break the news to him? 'No, Ron, she doesn't like you in that way at all, sorry.' No, he couldn't do that to his best mate nor could he lie, knowing Hermione didn't see Ron in that way.

He looked at the hopeful expression on his friend's face and said with a heavy heart, "She might Ron, she might, if you ask at the right moment, I reckon."

Obviously not catching the slight sadness in his tone of voice, Ron's face split into a grin. "When you do think I should ask her? Today is Tuesday and the trip is on Saturday..."

"Soon as possible," said Harry, "probably after class when we get our essays back from Professor Binns, and she'll be in a good mood that she got a perfect ten."

They both laughed at their friend's study habits.

"You know, you're probably right," he said, chuckling, "she is always in a good mood after she gets her grades back."

"Practically skipping," added Harry, his green eyes sparkling.

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**Authors' Notes: **Typos...improper English...blah blah...I don't have a beta because I'm too lazy to get one, I just use the spellchecker, so typos are my fault completely. Next chapter is already written and is much much longer than the first two chapters; but I like to update every week...so...[_Hint_] 


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